Everyone Can Cook

Spanish-style Chicken with Olives

Cooking this chicken dish
The chicken recipe below is baked in the oven, but on a hot summer day you can certainly doing the cooking outdoors. One option is to preheat your barbecue to medium–high. Place the marinated chicken in a large barbecue friendly skillet or pan. Set the skillet or pan on one side of the barbecue. Turn off the heat underneath the skillet or pan and leave the other side of the barbecue set at medium-high. Close the lid and cook the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes (it cooks quicker on the barbecue than in the oven), or until just cooked through.
As you'll see in the photo, you could also cook the chicken in a wood-fired oven, which I did at a friend’s place. His name is Andrew Lewis and he custom builds wood-fired ovens as part of his landscape design business on Saltspring Island, B.C. For more information go to http://www.lewislandscapes.com/pizza_oven.htmSpanish-style Chicken with Olives
I like to serve the chicken with boiled new potatoes and tomato salad.
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus marinating time
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Makes: 4-6 servings
3 Tbsp (45 mL) extra virgin olive oil, plus some for the pan
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp (5 mL) paprika
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cumin
1/2 tsp (2 mL) freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cayenne pepper
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
6 chicken thighs
6 chicken drumsticks
3/4 cup mix green and black olives
• salt to taste
• chopped fresh parsley to taste
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover, refrigerate and marinate the chicken for 3 to 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190˚C).
Brush a roasting pan lightly with olive oil, and then set in the chicken. Drizzle any remaining marinade over the chicken and season with salt. Disperse the olives around the chicken. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the centre of a thigh registers 170˚F (77˚C). Divide the chicken among plates, spoon the pan juices over top, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.